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One in five buses grounded after CNT bought parts at 60 times market price

How much is a crankshaft worth? At the CNT, the National Transport Corporation, the answer was apparently Rs 365,000 each. The real market price: Rs 89,600. And that four-fold gap is not even the worst of it.

In Parliament on Tuesday, Minister of Land Transport Osman Mahomed revealed that the CNT had been buying spare parts at prices ranging from 3 to 25 times their real value, with some instances hitting 60 times the going rate. A single supplier, AV World Spare Parts Ltd, collected Rs 380 million in contracts between 2020 and 2024. And in some cases, the overpriced parts were counterfeit.

Today, roughly 20% of the bus fleet is grounded, not from old age but from years of suspiciously bad procurement. The FCC, the Financial Crimes Commission, has opened a formal investigation. The CNT's former General Manager was already charged in December 2025. Adding to the picture: the corporation went nearly a decade without filing its financial accounts.

Daylight robbery, said the minister. Four years, Rs 380 million, one supplier. Hard to argue.

Jockey Rye Joorawon charged with manslaughter as family of victim calls for justice

"I want justice for my brother," Muntasir said at the hospital, barely holding back tears, as his 27-year-old brother Muzzafar Pacquet lay in intensive care. On Friday, a Pamplemousses court charged jockey Rye Joorawon with manslaughter, after Muzzafar died on Wednesday, five days after the collision at Solitude.

Prosecutors say Joorawon's van ran a red light on April 18 and hit Muzzafar, who was on his motorcycle heading to work. Safe City cameras support that account, and bail was set at Rs 80,000 with a Rs 250,000 bond. Separately, the FCC seized Joorawon's 4x4 as part of its own inquiry into use of the vehicle.

Berenger's new party gets its founding congress date: fifteen days from now

Fifteen days. That's how long until Paul Berenger holds a founding congress for his new movement. A press conference in Rose-Hill on Saturday should reveal the party's name and symbol. One detail already confirmed: the word "militant" will feature in the name.

The walk-outs from the MMM keep coming, with fifty-four members of the No 1 regional committee resigning this week. Berenger told Radio Plus he expects the old party to dissolve in two to three months. MMM Secretary General Rajesh Bhagwan replied, equally tartly: "The future will tell who disappears."

Watch for the colour choice: Berenger picking something other than purple would be the clearest signal of intent.

A new solidarity fund would have MPs and top earners chip in for households

What if your MP had to take a 15% salary cut to help cushion your power bill? That's the core of a formal proposal sent to PM Navin Ramgoolam: a Sovereign Solidarity and Resilience Fund where ministers and all MPs contribute 15% of their base pay, profitable companies chip in, and the money goes directly to households hit by rising energy and food prices. It would run until December 2026.

A 30-year-old Bangladeshi worker dies in a Montagne-Longue house fire

She arrived in Mauritius in 2019 and had a valid work permit until February 2027. A fire this morning at Montagne-Longue, where she lived and worked for Princes Tuna, killed her; she died at Victoria Hospital from her burns. A male colleague, aged 36, remains in hospital in serious condition, and the cause of the fire is still unknown pending autopsy.

🗞️ SHORTS

Rodrigues on heavy rain alert today – A heavy rain warning for Rodrigues was issued at 04:30 and is valid until 19:00 tonight.

Shreeya Bokhoree is Miss World Mauritius 2026 – Shreeya Bokhoree was crowned Miss World Mauritius 2026 at the 55th edition of the pageant on Friday evening.

Air Mauritius delays Mumbai, KL and Paris flights – Air Mauritius is rescheduling flights to Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur and Paris this weekend following a technical issue.

No mpox at Albion school, ministry confirms – Rumours of mpox at an Albion primary school spread online Friday; the Ministry of Education quickly denied any such case.

Mauritius could get preferential oil from Congo – Mauritius is studying a preferential petroleum quota from Congo after PM Ramgoolam's Brazzaville visit.

Rs 20 million The amount the FCC alleges an Assistant Manager at a management company stole from clients. The FCC arrested him Friday evening and he remains in custody as investigators look into the full extent of the alleged fraud.

Rs 1,568,209 That's what Wiam's family needs to send their 8-year-old boy, who also lives with Down syndrome, to India for an urgent kidney transplant. His condition is deteriorating and a public appeal has been launched.

Rs 1 billion ER Group has opened a regional office in Nairobi backed by a Rs 1 billion outlay, aiming to double its international revenue over the next decade. The move makes it one of island's larger outbound investments in recent years.

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Tanzania's inquiry puts election death toll at 518, opposition says far more

518. That's the official count from Tanzania's government-appointed commission into violence around October's general election. The opposition puts the figure far higher, in the thousands. The inquiry blamed much of the bloodshed on 'outside forces.'

The admission that 518 people died in election-related violence is significant: it sits among the higher official tolls for any African election in recent years. The report's release is being watched across the continent as a test of whether Tanzania's institutions can honestly reckon with what happened.

Kenya's appeals court overturns the right to abortion access

Kenya's Court of Appeal on Friday struck down a ruling that had affirmed the right to access abortion, reversing a landmark decision, the case is now likely heading to the Supreme Court. The ruling directly affects access to reproductive healthcare for millions of Kenyan women.

Ghana summons South Africa's envoy over xenophobic incidents

Ghana called in South Africa's ambassador on Thursday after a series of incidents targeting Ghanaian migrants, including one case where a legal resident was told to go home and 'fix his country.' South Africa has since vowed a crackdown on attacks against foreign nationals.

Witkoff and Kushner land in Pakistan as Iran peace talks enter a new round

US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner flew to Islamabad on Saturday morning for a fresh attempt at ceasefire talks with Iran, mediated by Pakistan. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had already arrived in the country, reportedly carrying a written response to a US war-ending proposal.

There is a catch. Iran's foreign ministry has ruled out direct meetings, and some Pakistani officials say Araghchi was not scheduled to face US negotiators. Trump told reporters that Iran plans to put forward an offer satisfying US demands, then added, less reassuringly, that he doesn't yet know what it contains.

The Strait of Hormuz stays blocked until a deal is done. Both sides know it.

Your next flight just got more expensive, courtesy of the Iran war

Surging jet fuel costs from the ongoing conflict are forcing airlines worldwide to raise fares, cut routes, and reduce the number seats on sale. Some carriers have suspended their most costly long-haul routes entirely.

For Mauritius, the timing is tight. Air Mauritius already rescheduled flights to Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur and Paris this weekend due to a technical issue, and the wider industry pressure will feed into ticket prices for both visitors and residents flying out.

If you have been thinking about booking that flight to Paris or Mumbai, sooner is probably cheaper.

Amazon-backed nuclear startup raises $1.02 billion in record IPO

$1.02 billion. That's how much X-Energy, backed by Amazon, raised in its Nasdaq IPO last week under the ticker XE. It's the largest nuclear IPO on record.

The investment comes as energy demand from data centres and AI infrastructure keeps climbing. Nuclear is increasingly seen as the only credible large-scale clean baseload option, and investors are finally pricing that in.

Two years ago 'nuclear startup' sounded like a punchline. Not anymore.

The US government just put psychedelics on the fast track for mental health treatment

Psychedelic drugs are still illegal under US federal law. That didn't stop President Trump from signing an executive order directing the FDA to speed up research on them. On Friday, the agency followed through: fast-track review status granted to three experimental treatments targeting depression, PTSD, and substance use disorders.

The treatments include compounds like psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. The FDA called it a 'big shift' toward psychedelic treatment for conditions that traditional drugs have largely failed to address.